While things may seem bleak on the employment front due to COVID-19, IMPACT's employment services’ boss says there’s a goldmine of eager and resourceful employees waiting, desperate to be given a chance.
Paea Ruka, General Manager Employment and Training at IMPACT Community Services, said the organisation had seen a rise in highly-skilled and employable people, not used to being out of work.
Ms Ruka said IMPACT’s jobactive service had been inundated with hundreds of keen and skilled jobseekers.
“These are good people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves unemployed in quite exceptional and unique circumstances,” Ms Ruka said.
She said that IMPACT, as an accredited and experienced Registered Training Organisation, was perfectly placed to help those looking for work with the skills they needed to pivot themselves into new jobs Bundaberg companies would require in the near future.
“We want to work with local Bundaberg companies to identify the gaps in jobseekers' skills that we can fill, so these very willing workers can slot right into your organisation,” Ms Ruka said.
“These are people with transferable skills we can pivot into your workforce. We'll work with you to get them ready to fill any positions you have when things start to return to normal.”
Like everybody else, businesses are doing it tough right throughout the Bundaberg region: five-year plans are being torn up, quarterly targets are being thrown out the window, and there’s an air of uncertainty about the future.
Businesses may be hesitant to even think about the new employees they might need in the near future.
But Ms Ruka said now was an opportunity to get ahead of the game and position your business for growth opportunities by bringing in skilled staff with a great work ethic.
The workers who are being displaced in big numbers are from hospitality, retail and tourism. The transferable skills they have are customer service, communication, problem-solving, complaint-handling and resilience, skills that are applicable across a wide swathe of the business landscape.
“Help us identify the gaps in their skill sets and what they need to learn to come work for you when things have settled down,” Ms Ruka said.
“We'll sit down with you to find out how best to retrain and position these eager jobseekers to fit right into your workforce. Let us take that burden away from you.”
Ms Ruka said IMPACT was in a unique position, as a Bundaberg organisation, to help local employers.
“We are in the Bundaberg community like you and we're here to support you, as well as Bundaberg jobseekers,” Ms Ruka said.
“We have the same aspiration: we live here and we do better by making others do better. Let's sit and talk about our shared future together.”
If you are a local business who wants to position your business for the future and help a jobseeker, contact IMPACT Employment Services on 0419773838 and let's secure everybody's future.
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